But does it have MERIT? Evaluating GenAI use in qualitative workflows

But does it have MERIT? Evaluating Gen-AI use in qualitative workflows

Abstract: While many researchers are adopting generative AI at a rapid pace, there are not yet clear guidelines for how to evaluate or report its use. In this webinar, Trena Paulus and Jessica Lester present the MERIT framework for qualitative research workflows. By reflexively considering the consequences of AI use on five study domains (Methods, Ethics, Responsibility, Impact, Transparency), researchers can ensure their studies remain robust and meaningful. In this time of technological complexity and ambiguity, a MERIT mindset can provide the structure and flexibility for an effective evaluation of research outcomes.

This webinar draws on the following forthcoming publication co-authored by the presenters: Lester, J.N. & Paulus, T. (Forthcoming) The MERIT Framework: Guiding responsible innovation in qualitative methods. Invited chapter for D. Morgan and S. Friese (Eds.) Qualitative Data Analysis with Artificial Intelligence: Theory, Methods and Practice. Sage.

This is an extended webinar format, lasting 90 minutes.

Speakers:

Jessica Nina Lester (she/her) is a Professor of Qualitative Methodology in the Qualitative & Quantitative Methodology Program in the School of Education at IUB. Having been trained in cultural studies and qualitative research methodology, she takes an interdisciplinary approach to much of her work, including both the methodological and substantive foci in her research program. In Jessica’s methodological work, she publishes in areas related to critical approaches to qualitative method/ology, with a particular focus on discourse and conversation analysis methods, digital tools/spaces in qualitative research, and disability in critical qualitative inquiry. In her substantive research, Jessica has sought to examine and illustrate how everyday and institutional language use makes visible what and who becomes positioned as normal and abnormal in relation to the oft taken-for-granted normality-abnormality binary. Most recently, she co-authored the book, Doing Qualitative Research in a Digital World (Sage, 2022), and co-edited the volume, Centering Diverse Bodyminds in Critical Qualitative Inquiry (Routledge, 2021). She teaches qualitative method/ology courses and mentors graduate students in qualitative inquiry from a range of disciplines.

Trena Paulus is Professor and Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research Methods at East Tennessee State University. She specializes in the area of qualitative research technologies, including the development of innovative methodologies for analyzing social media conversations and other online communication environments. She is co-author of Doing Qualitative Research in a Digital World; Looking for Insight, Transformation and Learning in Online Talk; and Digital Tools for Qualitative Research. She has facilitated numerous workshops in national and international contexts, most recently as a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Humanities and Social Sciences at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland.